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Crash at Exit 13 toll plaza in New Jersey jams traffic heading to the Goethals Bridge

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A tractor-trailer slid off the ramp on 440 North to the Goethals Bridge, partially block the ramp. But an accident at the Exit 13 toll plaza in New Jersey had a major impact on traffic on both sides of the Goethals Bridge on Thursday.
(Staten Island Advance/Irving Silverstein)

UPDATE, 10:10 a.m.: The ramp where the Staten Island Expressway and West Shore Expressway merge is expected to be closed until at least 10:15 a.m. while the tractor-trailer is removed. According to emergency radio transmissions, the FDNY has been asked to respond to the scene because one the truck's fuel tanks is leaking.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A multi-vehicle accident in the Exit 13 toll plaza in Elizabeth brought New Jersey-bound traffic heading over the Goethals Bridge to a near standstill this morning.

The crash occurred sometime before 7 Thursday morning and traffic was so snarled that some motorists gave up, turned their cars around in Elizabeth and headed back to Staten Island.

At the same time, there was an unrelated tractor-trailer accident on 440, partially blocking the ramp where the Staten Island Expressway and West Shore Expressway merge on the New Jersey-bound side.

According to one Staten Island motorist: "While it's not unusual to see slow-moving traffic headed to Brooklyn, there was a huge traffic tie-up this morning for motorists traversing the Staten Island Expressway and trying, on the other side of the bridge, to merge onto the New Jersey Turnpike."

"Traffic, literally, was at a standstill for so long that many motorists exited as if they were heading to Bayway Liquor and turned around, paying the toll to cross the Goethals back into Staten Island."

As of 8:36 a.m., CBS was reporting that there were estimated delays of 33 minutes on the New Jersey-bound side of the Staten Island Expressway between the Slosson Avenue and South Avenue exits. By 9:30 a.m., the Port Authority was reporting that the accident had been cleared, but that there may be residual delays.